Month: March 2022

Lizzo has long been an advocate for the experience of plus size women, and all those living in a larger body. There’s been such a stigma and intense amount of fatphobia and hatred around fat bodies that sometimes it’s hard to remember all the progress we’ve already made in the area. For instance, plenty of brands have been called out for not having inclusive sizing, and in response, plenty of DTC clothing brands for women have changed their standard sizing to go up as high as 3X. As always, Lizzo is doing one better — make that three better.

Today she launched a new line of shapewear called Yitty in partnership with Fabletics. The brand is named for Lizzo’s childhood nickname. Her shapewear goes from size XS all the way up to size 6X, a size that while incredibly common, is extremely difficult to find. Lizzo recently teased the launch in a revealing Instagram post, calling it her “biggest thing YET. Bigger than anything I’ve ever done” and noting that it was “3 years in the making.”

In a post from earlier today, Lizzo called the line “a love letter to my big grrrls” She wrote: This is a love letter to my big grrrls, and a welcome letter to Every Body. This is *not* an invitation to change who you are… this is an opportunity to BE who you are on your terms. I don’t know about y’all— but I’m sick of people telling me how I’m supposed to look and feel about my body. I’m tired of discomfort being synonymous with sexy. If it’s uncomfortable TAKE IT OFF. And if it makes you feel good PUT IT ON. @YITTY isn’t just shapewear, it’s your chance to reclaim your body and redefine your beauty standard. I love y’all—I’m going live today and will answer any questions or feelings y’all have for me.”

“Instead of thinking about size in this linear way, we’re thinking about it on a spectrum where everyone is included,” the brand said in a statement. “Everyone’s size is just their size. It’s not high, it’s not low. It’s not big, it’s not small. It’s just your size.” In a press release, Lizzo said she had an epiphany when it came to the brand. “I was tired of seeing this sad, restrictive shapewear that literally no-one wanted to wear. I had an epiphany like, ‘who can actually do something about this?’ I decided to take on the challenge of allowing women to feel unapologetically good about themselves again.”

So far, Yitty is launching three distinct collection: Mesh Me, Nearly Naked and Major Label that are respectively described as “super bossy, super soft, super YITTY.” To learn more about the brand, check out their website here. The brand officially goes live April 12.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that Bruce Willis was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a rare cognitive disease that erodes the ability to speak and understand language. The news inspired an avalanche of appreciation for the beloved actor. Some former colleagues even apologized for things they’d said about him in the past.

And then there’s the Razzies. For the last four decades-plus, the Golden Raspberry Awards have been the anti-Oscars, “honoring” what they perceived as the worst in cinema. This year’s slate, which announced their “winners” mere days ago, included an entire category dedicated to Willis, who, over the last few years, has largely done smaller films, often direct-to-streaming, often several of them a year. The Razzies decided to belittle this, picking eight of these films to compete for the award called “Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 movie.”

After Willis’ condition was made public, the Razzies tried to address it, though their response didn’t go over very well.

“The Razzies are truly sorry for #BruceWillis diagnosed condition,” the awards body wrote on their social media account. “Perhaps this explains why he wanted to go out with a bang in 2021. Our best wishes to Bruce and family.”

In a subsequent exchange with IndieWire, Razzies co-founders John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy doubled down on their support for Willis and his family, though they also added, strangely though seemingly in defense of their category, “In Willis’ defense, perhaps his reps should not have let him do such a high volume of work in so short a time.”

They later added, “We are still discussing how to handle the news about Willis’ diagnosis and will get back to you.”

In an interview with Vulture in late February, shortly after this year’s nominees were announced, Wilson and Murphy admitted that they regretted at least one nomination: Shelley Duvall in The Shining, after discovering that she’d undergone psychological distress at the hands of exacting director Stanley Kubrick. So it’s not impossible that they may at least apologize for what was at the least a poorly-timed dig, if not worse.

(Via IndieWire)

Back in 2017, the United States Men’s National Team failed to qualify for the World Cup. A whole lot has happened in the four and a half years since that fateful night in Trinidad and Tobago, but on Wednesday evening, the team managed to exercise that demon thanks to a 2-0 loss against Costa Rica. As a result, the USMNT is headed to Qatar for the chance to compete for the sport’s highest honor.

The Americans were guaranteed, at the bare minimum, a fourth-place finish in CONCACAF, which would have earned them a date with New Zealand in June for a spot in the World Cup. But even entering Wednesday night’s match in San José, the likelihood of that happening was extremely unlikely — Costa Rica would have needed to take down the Americans by at least six goals to jump them for a top-3 spot and an automatic ticket to the tournament.

Los Ticos did get a couple back, both on dead balls in the second half. Juan Pablo Vargas got a free header in the 51st minute off of a corner that beat Zack Steffen, while the American keeper couldn’t reel in a free kick eight minutes later, leading to a tap-in by Anthony Contreras.

It was not enough, though, and despite some nervy moments, the United States was able to see out a loss that was nowhere near the kind of disaster that would make their road to Qatar a little longer. The Americans will finish third in the group — Canada and Mexico will finish 1-2 on 28 points with the Canadians ahead on goal differential, with the Americans holding a comfortably goal differential edge on Costa Rica, with both teams finishing on 25 points. Now, the USMNT will sit back and wait for Friday, when they’ll learn the other three teams in their group in Qatar, before counting down the days until the 2022 World Cup kicks off in November.

Since the moment Will Smith decided to get up out of his seat at the Oscars and slap Chris Rock for a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, the repercussion have been raining down. Now, The Academy is conducting a formal review of the incident, but another innocent party in the fallout from the drama is Questlove and his entire talented team behind the Summer Of Soul documentary, one of the winners that was announced right after the incident occured.

Questlove already admitted he was “rattled” by the incident while giving his acceptance speech for his first Oscar (!), which is definitely understandable, and now one of the producers behind the film has spoken out about how Will’s “selfish” decision impacted the team.

Joseph Patel, one of the producers of Summer Of Soul shared a lengthy thread on Twitter tonight, not just about the impact of Will’s actions, but how a throwaway comment from Chris Rock about how the project was Questlove and “four white guys” really erased a historic accomplishment for him. Patel is of Southeast Asian descent, as were a couple other winners that night for another film, making it a pretty historic for them and their culture. Read Patel’s thoughts transcribed below, along with the corresponding tweets.

Ok, here we go with some thoughts and feelings on what happened Sunday night, “the Slap,” if you will. [thread]. First, I’ve been drunk with joy the last few days for me and my team and our Oscar win. So many of you – IRL friends, internet friends, acquaintances, colleagues, old homies and new – have shown love and support and genuine excitement for our achievement. I feel that love, and I thank you. It’s taken me a few days to process everything. Still sort of processing it.

Once we realized the Chris Rock/Will Smith interaction wasn’t a bit, everything got turned upside down. Everyone was still trying to make sense of it when Chris persevered & started to read the nominees. I think what Will did was selfish. It robbed the category of its moment. It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs. And it robbed Summer of Soul and our team of our moment. Of a loud, enthusiastic cheer for a celebrated film. I feel bad for Ahmir. I feel bad for my fellow producers. I feel bad for our whole team. I feel bad for all the people watching and rooting for us.

We were in shock walking to the stage -not because of winning but because we, too, were still trying to make sense of what happened.I feel bad for Ahmir. I feel bad for my fellow producers. I feel bad for our whole team. I feel bad for all the people watching and rooting for us. We were in shock walking to the stage -not because of winning but because we, too, were still trying to make sense of what happened. Then Will hugs Ahmir and daps me up. I didn’t even know it was happening in the moment. Still in shock. (Ahmir handled the moment with grace, giving a speech from the heart. It was beautiful to see. I’m so deeply moved by how much he has grown in the last few years.)

What I didn’t hear in that moment walking to stage but was told of afterwards is what Chris Rock said when reading our name from the winner’s card – The winner is “Summer of Soul…Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and…4 white guys.” WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK????? The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award. I was ecstatic that I was the 3RD South Asian to win that night – after Riz and Aneil Karia won earlier in the night for The Long Goodbye. 3 South Asians winning on the same night – that’s never happened before! And it’s meaningful! It’s history!

So with my family and friends watching, Chris Rock lumped me in as 1 of “4 white guys.” (Nevermind the disrespect to @d2films and @fyvo for not even saying their names, and the inaccuracy of us being 3 producers not 4). I’m a big boy – I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a shitty, disrespectful thing to do. AND HERE’S THE THING…It wasn’t that Chris Rock was under stress. He made the same joke the night before on stage at the Roots Jam! So I’m angry. Angry at Will Smith. Angry at Chris Rock. Angry for me. Angry for Ahmir. Angry for my fellow filmmakers. I got back home to New York last night and saw the ceremony on my DVR and didn’t have the stomach to watch it. I probably never will. Thank you, Chris – You absolute f*cking d*ck.

Now, all that said, I know that what happened with the ceremony and the achievement of winning an Oscar will separate over time. And truly, like I said earlier, I’m living in a place of absolute joy over what we did. never need a statue to tell me how nice I am – but it sure helps. And what both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us. FIN. Also it goes without saying I speak for me and me alone. Not Ahmir and not our coproducers.

Nearly three summers ago, Dreamville dropped one of hip-hop’s most collaborative projects with Revenge Of The Dreamers III. The compilation brought a total of 35 artists and 27 producers together for the 18-track effort. Now it seems like for their latest project, Dreamville will be keeping things in-house with a little help from DJ Drama. Days before their upcoming Dreamville Festival, the label founded by J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad announced their D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape with DJ Drama.

The announcement also revealed that the upcoming project will be released tomorrow, March 31, at 7pm EST/4pm PST. The news was shared with a trailer that was made up of a collage of videos that featured the entire Dreamville roster, that being J. Cole, Ari Lennox, JID, Earthgang, Cozz, Bas, Lute, and Omen. D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape will be the latest in Dreamville’s collection of collaborative projects which dates back to 2014 with Revenge of the Dreamers, a project that was followed up by 2015’s Revenge of the Dreamers II.

As for the label’s Dreamville Festival, that’s set to go down on April 2 and 3 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Across the weekend, festivalgoers will catch appearances from the Dreamville cast, Lil Wayne, Jeezy, Moneybagg Yo, Wale, Rico Nasty, Fivio Foreign, Larry June, Bia, Morray, Blxst, T-Pain, and more.

You can view the trailer for D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape, which arrives on 3/31, in the video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Weeknd is beginning to make a name for himself as one of the hardest working men in show business. Though he only recently headlined the Super Bowl halftime show, a huge look for any artist, and dropped his most successful album to date, After Hours, right at the beginning of the pandemic, he already had more new music for fans at the top of 2022. Dawn FM is a confrontation with the afterlife, and just might be the second entry into a new trilogy that began with After Hours.

Whether that’s the case or not, Dawn FM is truly the gift that keeps on giving, and Abel seems ready to continue rolling out content and videos supporting the record for the next little while. Today, he took to Twitter to let fans know that his “Out Of Time” video would be coming early next week. “Just a heads up: out of time music video drops next Tuesday,” he posted this afternoon.

Keep an eye out for more teasers, Abel’s been in a giving mood lately. Except when it comes to the Grammys of course — after some messiness around his performance at the award show and the Super Bowl created some kind of conflict, he’s now boycotting the show. Definitely their loss on that one.

More than two years after they released their stellar debut album Mirrorland, Earthgang finally returned to the scene with their sophomore release Ghetto Gods. It presents 17 songs with fellow Dreamville artists J. Cole, Ari Lennox, and JID as well as additional appearances from Future, Musiq Soulchild, Baby Tate, Nick Cannon, and more. Earthgang are gearing up to promote the project with a tour across North America and Euroupe, but until then, they’re back with more content that’s tied to the album thanks to a new video for “Strong Friends.”

The track is one of the more down-to-earth songs on Ghetto Gods as it finds Earthgang advocating for folks to check in on the people around them who they’ve labeled as the “strong friend.” In the video, Earthgang cruises around town with a couple of members from their crew, and during their journey, they invite a few more friends on the drive by allowing them to sit on the roof of their already-crowded vehicle.

The video arrives after Earthgang brought their talents to The Tonight Show to perform “Lie To Me.” They also dropped a music video for “American Horror Story” which doubled as the first episode of The Ghetto Gods Show.

You can watch the video for “Strong Friends” above.

Ghetto Gods is out now via Dreamville and Interscope. You can stream it here.

Baby Tate is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Maybe it’s the stage in Katy Perry’s career where she begins a pivot toward more entertainment focused work than music? After all, the pop star has been focusing on her new baby and relationship with Orlando Bloom, but still taking the stage several times a week in Vegas to keep performing her hits for the audiences who love seeing her musical-like act.

In a similar vein, AP News reported today that Perry has signed on to narrate a podcast about the life of actress and icon Elizabeth Taylor. Dubbed Elizabeth The First, the 10-episode show is produced by produced by Perry, House of Taylor — the repository that handles Elizabeth’s legacy and estate — and Imperative. It will focus on Taylor’s role as “the original influencer,” along with her advocacy for HIV/AIDS awareness, and support for the LGBTQ community. It is also set to include “rare stories from people who knew her best.”

Here’s what Katy had to show about the show: “Like most people, I was attracted to her glamour. I’m inspired by her bold activism, her constant boss moves in business, and through it all, an unapologetic way of loving — all things I try to live in my own life. It’s an honour to be able to share her story in this way.” As for House Of Taylor, they said her story is a “timely” one. “We believe wholeheartedly that this take on Elizabeth will resonate with audiences,” the estate said in a statement. “Her story is timely. And, we’re excited for people to hear about her in a different light and see her the way we do.”

The podcast is slated to debut this spring on all major platforms.

Dove Cameron recently released the best single of her career so far, and it looks like the multi-hyphenate artist is just getting started. Since “Boyfriend” dropped back in February, the song is already rising on the Billboard chart — currently sitting at the No. 42 spot after six weeks on the chart — and has stirred up a lot of excitement in fans due to the song’s queer themes and clever setup. “I could be a better boyfriend than him,” Dove sings, before delivering that amazing kicker: “Plus all my clothes will fit.”

Though Dove is well-known for her film roles in movies like The Descendants and The Powerpuff Girls TV series, she’s still finding her footing in the music industry. The success of “Boyfriend” is likely going to change all that, though, and now she’s been teasing a video to accompany the song, which will likely help catapult the song even further into the mainstream. Earlier today, Dove shared a snippet from the visual on her Twitter, and let fans know the full video will drop at 9 AM PST/12 PM EST tomorrow. From the look of the clip, it’s going to be as dark and sexy as the song is, so buckle up.

The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, 125-118, which is far from a surprising or even noteworthy result, given Denver is trying to make the postseason while the Pacers are trying to get better lottery odds right now.

However, considering Denver led by 28 after the first quarter and then found themselves trailing in the second half, things were much more competitive than anticipated, and that resulted in a rather bizarre sequence that saw Austin Rivers get ejected from a close game in the fourth quarter. Rivers found himself in a pair of incidents with Lance Stephenson, first a kerfuffle in the corner that saw some pushing, shoving, and jawing before the two were separated.

After that, Rivers decided to send Stephenson a message about his overly aggressive ball pressure by faking throwing an elbow at Stephenson’s chin, which didn’t come close to making actual contact, but Stephenson jumped back and pointed to the officials, which somehow resulted in Tony Brothers ruling it a second T on Rivers and an ejection.

It’s as bizarre an ejection as you’ll see, particularly since they went to the monitor to look at it and you can clearly see there wasn’t contact, but it still sent Rivers to an early shower. The good news is the Nuggets didn’t need the point guard to pull out the victory, but Rivers will face a fine for this unless it’s rescinded, which many, including Kevin Durant, think should happen.

Rivers, likewise, couldn’t believe he got tossed for that and hopes the league looks at it.